Nighttime cats

Tried for flatheads last night under the cover of darkness Flatheads and channels were out and hungry. Ended up with six flatheads and two channels, one channel a real beauty around 16 lbs. Scale went back and forth between 15.5 and 16.5 so will call it around 16! Fish was 31 inches long but was real broad in the shoulders. Beautiful channel! Fish were hitting funny last night, missed a bunch of run offs as they turned around with the bait and had maybe a half dozen instances when I had multiple run offs at the same time and as usual missed both! No big flatheads but good action throughout the night. While taking a picture of the big channel, I had a flathead hit. Got that fish in and was taking a picture of the flathead and the channel and the other flathead rod went off! Hooked up again but came unbuttoned on the way in otherwise would have had a very cool three cat shot. The flathead / channel picture is a 7.5 flathead and the 16 lb. channel. Overall good night, fish are transitioning to their winter holes and feeding heavy.

[Chrisper4694]

that channel cat is a freaking beast, nice job. sucks i was down in cancun with njsquatch catching tons of bass and hanging with hot chicks or i would've came with!

[FASTEDDIE29]

Phenom fishing out there this year! What lies beneath? LOL! Way to stick with it and land some of NJ's finest river monsters! It certainly takes some time to figure out what they want but once you do, ITS ON! Great catching this season bud! Keep it up!!!

That is one thick old Channel cat! WOW!

[JDTuna]

Awesome job, man! That channel is approaching sea lion status! Great night on the whiskered fish!!

[Esox Luciano]

Kickin whiskers and taking names!! You been on a hot streak with these big kitties lately! Some nice catches!!!

[Eskimo]

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That's an amazing catfish.
I was up on the river last weekend. The water is very clear and getting low. We could really use some rain.

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Originally Posted by FASTEDDIE29

Phenom fishing out there this year! What lies beneath? LOL! Way to stick with it and land some of NJ's finest river monsters! It certainly takes some time to figure out what they want but once you do, ITS ON! Great catching this season bud! Keep it up!!!

That is one thick old Channel cat! WOW!

Eddie I thought for sure based on weight it was a flathead. Coupled with the fact it took a live gill. Lot of channel hits that night but miss almost all of them on the bigger whole live baits. Not this one! Didn't feel the usual flathead head shakes bringing this girl in but still thought based on the weight it was a flathead. When I saw it come up it took a few seconds but realized it was a trophy size channel! Couldn't believe the girth and muscle on the fish, they're so strong being in the river their entire life. The flathead I got right after was a cookie cutter but probably a 27 / 28 inch fish around 7.5 lbs. The channel made it look like a baby! Wonder how old she is. Definitely deserved her freedom so a few pictures and off she went. Would loved to have landed the other flathead and had three catfish in the picture! Crazy 10 minute span of fishing! Most channel hits on live bait are stop and go, stop and go. This girl hit and was off to the races. Surprised when she came to the surface, beautiful fish. Swam away like a champ for someone else to enjoy.

[Eskimo]

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Originally Posted by dakota560

Wonder how old she is.

So do I. I did a Google search to try and figure out how old a 31 inch wild channel catfish is, but I didn't find much.

There is one study in Nebraska that showed a 745mm (30.4 inch) Channel Catfish was eighteen years old. 18 years is a long time for a fish that only recently even had a creel limit or minimum size.

Page 39: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/vi...2&context=tnas


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[njflyfisher]

Yea mann thats a nice channy!!!

Wow that's insane if even near that age. For a fish to survive angling pressure in and of itself not to mention natural threats that's pretty unbelievable. Fish was very clean as well, not marked up at all. She was lip hooked, no damage there, and was in a pool of water while waiting for her photo op! So she swam away in great shape. Hope one day she reaches 20 lbs. and provides someone else the same thrill I had catching her Tuesday night. Can only imagine the size channels and flatheads roaming that river, big cat time of year! What's absolutely great about flathead fishing is at any time you can have a run off and it could be a 40 / 50 lb fish! In addition, you have the chance to catch some nice channels as well while you wait for the right bite! I love this fishery! I fished the Schylkill a few weeks ago and the area I fished the water level was relatively shallow. Was getting run offs from channels but again was missing them all with the larger live baits. Ended up rigging up a slip bobber rig, drilled two holes in the top and insert (2) 1 1/2 inch light sticks for visibility, dropped down to a smaller hook size and put on cut bait. The area I was fishing had some current so fished the slip bobber down the seam of the current break. Set the slip knot at 3 ft. I had a channel hit every cast for the better part of five hours while waiting for flatheads to hit the stationery live baits. Don't even know how many channels I hooked and how many more I lost before refining the presentation. Great night of fishing, non-stop action with some very respectable channels and some real nice flatheads as well. Have to love this time of year and for those who have overlooked this fishery you have no idea what your missing!